Unidentified Flying Objects
What this is
That Muscarello, Bertrand and Hunt were the named Exeter witnesses, and that Raymond E. Fowler signed as Chairman, NICAP Massachusetts Subcommittee.
Who convened and attended the 1966 hearing, and that the chairman named Gerald Ford in explaining why it was happening.
That the SAB Ad Hoc Committee was convened at the request of Maj. Gen. E. B. LeBailly in a memorandum of 28 September 1965, and met on 3 February 1966.
That Major Quintanilla briefed the SAB Ad Hoc Committee on Project Blue Book at its meeting of 3 February 1966, and that Lieutenant Colonel Spaulding of the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Information presented "the Air Force problem" at the same meeting.
The membership of the SAB Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book, including that Brian O'Brien chaired it and that Carl Sagan was a member.
That Raymond Fowler formally asked the Air Force in writing for its official evaluation of the Exeter sighting, and identified the witnesses as Muscarello and Officers Bertrand and Hunt.
That the Air Force, in writing and over a signature, recorded the Bertrand and Hunt observation as unidentified while attributing the earlier sightings that night to Operation Big Blast "Coco".
That the two officers told the Air Force in writing they had seen a B-47 separately from the object, and that the timing of their sighting ruled out Operation Big Blast.
That the Chief of Project Blue Book set out, in writing, the test by which Operation Big Blast would be eliminated as an explanation: that either officer had noted the aircraft.
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Open the document at govinfo.gov →9 passages read
“UFO SUMMARY SHEET. UFO reports-Sept. 3, 1966. 2 and 3. Norman J. Muscarelle, 205 1/2 Front St., Exeter, N.H., 18, Route 150, Kensington. 3. Officer Eugene F. Bertrand (Exeter Police Department), Pickpocket Road, Exeter, N.H., 32. 3. Officer David R. Hunt, 11 Charles St., Exeter, N.H., 26 (Exeter Police Department).”
THE DOCUMENT SPELLS IT "Muscarelle"; this map uses "Muscarello". Recorded, not corrected - the variant is in the printed record and a reader searching either spelling should find it.
“The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:35 a.m., the Honorable L. Mendel Rivers (chairman of the committee), presiding. ... I understand that he has with him Dr. J. Allen Hynek, consultant to Project Blue Book ... Also present this morning is Maj. Hector Quintanilla, Jr., UFO project officer. ... Mr. Ford has come out, he has a pretty good size stature in the Congress, and so tell me what you know, Mr. Secretary, and let's see if we can have some answers.”
PAGINATION CORRECTION: this document's record says printed 6001-6076, but the transcript opens at printed 5991. The twelve "fm" images are not unnumbered front matter - they carry printed 5991-6000.
“As requested in a memorandum from Maj. Gen. E. B. LeBailly, Secretary of the Air Force Officer of Information, dated September 28, 1965 (tab A), a Scientific Advisory Board Ad Hoc Committee met on February 3, 1966, to review Project Blue Book. The objectives of the committee are to review the resources and methods of investigation prescribed by Project Blue Book and to advise the Air Force of any improvements that can be made in the program to enhance the Air Force's capability in carrying out its responsibility.”
- The sheet prints "Secretary of the Air Force Officer of Information". Officer is the document's own error for Office and is reproduced as printed. - THIS PAGE BEARS DIRECTLY ON LINK 1020, which asserts that Gerald Ford's 1966 pressure campaign led to this committee being formed. The request that formed it is dated September 1965 and the committee met in February 1966; the Ford letter printed at folio 6046 is dated March 28, 1966. No change has been made to link 1020 on the strength of this page - that is an operator decision. - "tab A" is the LeBailly memorandum itself, which the record prints at folio 5996.
“AD HOC COMMITTEE ON UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS (UFO'S) AGENDA. Thursday, 3 February 1966. 0800 Welcoming remarks: Commander or vice commander, FTD. 0805 Introduction: Dr. O'Brien, SAB. 0810 The Air Force problem: Lieutenant Colonel Spaulding, SAFOI. 0830 Briefing on Project Blue Book: Major Quintanilla, FTD. 1000 Break. 1015 Review of selected case histories: FTD Staff. 1145 Lunch. 1315 Executive and writing session.”
- THE OCR OF THIS PAGE READS THE DATE AS "8 February 1966". The sheet reads 3 February 1966, which is also the date the committee's own report gives at folio 5994. The quotation above is from the image. - Spaulding is named here as a lieutenant colonel of SAFOI. The batch D return reports the Air Force letter attributing the Exeter sightings to Operation Big Blast as signed by JOHN P. SPAULDING, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, Office of Information - a page this session has not seen. This page is consistent with that identification and is not confirmation of it.
“Committee members (1 each): Dr. Brian O'Brien (chairman), Dr. Launor F. Carter, Mr. Jesse Orlansky, Dr. Richard Porter, Dr. Carl Sagan, Dr. Willis H. Ware”
- The map already asserts O'Brien's chairmanship at link 1021 and Sagan's membership at link 1254, both bound to dow-uap-d092. This is a second and independent page for each, in a different document. - The other four named members - Launor F. Carter, Jesse Orlansky, Richard Porter and Willis H. Ware - are not on the map. No node is proposed here.
“This is a formal inquiry concerning the official U.S. Air Force evaluation of the detailed UFO report submitted to AFSC-FTD/Project Blue Book last month. My investigation and subsequent report took place shortly after the official U.S. Air Force investigating team from Pease AFB made their investigation. The UFO sighting took place between the Clyde Russell and Carl Dining properties along Route 150 in Kensington, N.H., on September 3, 1965, in the early hours of the morning. The witnesses were Norman Muscarello and Officers Bertrand and Hunt of the Exeter, N.H., police force.”
Fowler writes that in 1964 he "customarily received correspondence from your office in response to UFO reports submitted to the U.S. Air Force for evaluation" and that he has "submitted many reports since but have not received any response". He places the sighting in KENSINGTON, N.H., on SEPTEMBER 3, 1965; other letters in the same sequence place it at Exeter on the night of September 2 or the morning of September 3. Transcribed as printed; the place and date are not reconciled here.
“The initial investigation from Pease Air Force Base was submitted to our office on September 15, 1965, and contained statements from the principal witnesses. This data indicated that a refueling operation might have been the cause of the sighting. Refueling area ‘Fur Trapper’ and refueling area ‘Down Date’ are controlled through Loring Air Force Base and located over the area of the sighting. A call was made to the controller of this refueling area, and we were informed that they were closed from 03/0500Z to 03/600Z for an 8th Air Force operation, ‘Big Blast.’ A call was placed to the 99th Bomb Wing at Westover Air Force Base for information on this operation. The initial impression was that aircraft from an 8th Air Force operation, ‘Big Blast,’ was the cause of the lights observed during this incident. Information received from the 8th Air Force indicates that 10 B-47 aircraft from Pease Air Force Base involved in Operation Big Blast ‘Coco’ were in the traffic pattern over Exeter, N.H., between 03/444Z and 03/535Z. A copy of this letter is enclosed. Since this information conflicted with the time of the sighting and eliminated these aircraft as a possible evaluation of this incident, a letter was forwarded to Mr. Eugene Bertrand and Mr. Dave Hunt of the Exeter Police Department requesting clarification of the time of the sighting. A copy of our letter to these gentlemen and a copy of their reply is attached. The early sightings by two unnamed women and Mr. Muscarello are attributed to aircraft from operation Big Blast ‘Coco.’ The subsequent observation by Officers Bertrand and Hunt occurring after 2 a.m. are regarded as unidentified.”
THE LETTER IS IN TENSION WITH ITSELF AND THIS RECORD DOES NOT RESOLVE IT. It states that the Big Blast timing "eliminated these aircraft as a possible evaluation of this incident" and then attributes the early sightings to those same aircraft. Two readings are available. (1) A contradiction: the aircraft are ruled out and then used. (2) A division of the night into two events, "this incident" meaning the later Bertrand and Hunt sighting only, with the earlier sightings a separate matter. The letter never says which "this incident" refers to, and nothing on this folio settles it. Recorded as an ambiguity, not asserted as a contradiction. SIGNATURE BLOCK: "JOHN P. SPAULDING, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force, Chief, Civil Branch, Community Relations Division, Office of Information". The agenda at printed 5996 lists "Lieutenant Colonel Spaulding, SAFOI" presenting "the Air Force problem" to the SAB Ad Hoc Committee on 3 February 1966 - same rank, same office, nine days after this letter. Very probably the same officer. NOT MERGED: that is an inference from rank and office, and guardrail 7 exists because a shared surname is not a shared identity. TIMES TRANSCRIBED AS PRINTED. This folio prints "03/0500Z to 03/600Z" and "between 03/444Z and 03/535Z". The McGilpin memorandum on folio 6040 gives the same aircraft times as "between 03/0444Z and 03/0535Z". Read at 300 dpi and not corrected on either folio.
“Since one of us (Patrolman Bertrand) was in the Air Force for 4 years engaged in refueling operations with all kinds of military aircraft, it was impossible to mistake what we saw for any kind of military operation, regardless of altitude. It was also definitely not a helicopter or balloon. Immediately after the object disappeared, we did see what probably was a B-47 at high altitude, but it bore no relation at all to the object we saw. Another fact is that the time of our observation was nearly an hour after 2 a.m., which would eliminate the 8th Air Force operation, Big Blast, since as you say this took place between midnight and 2 a.m.”
THIS LETTER ANSWERS QUINTANILLA'S OWN TEST, SET OUT ON FOLIO 6041. He wrote that if either officer had witnessed aircraft in the area, "this would tend to eliminate this air operation as a plausible explanation for the objects observed". They reply that they did see a probable B-47 immediately after the object disappeared. What follows from that is not asserted here. The same letter rejects the weather explanation: the officers write that they were "much disturbed by the Pentagon report which attributed the sighting to 'multiple high-altitude objects' in the area and 'weather inversion'", that the weather was clear, and that there was "no chance of weather inversion". Bertrand also states the object was "at an altitude of not more than a couple of hundred feet".
“Our investigation and evaluation of this sighting indicates a possible association with an 8th Air Force operation, ‘Big Blast.’ In addition to aircraft from this operation, there were five B-47 type aircraft flying in the area during this period. Before a final evaluation of your sighting can be made, it is essential for us to know if either of you witnessed any aircraft in the area during this time period either independently or in connection with the objects observed. Since there were many aircraft in the area, at that time, and there were no reports of unidentified objects from personnel engaged in this air operation, we might then assume that the objects observed between midnight and 2 a.m. might be associated with this military air operation. If, however, these aircraft were noted by either of you, then this would tend to eliminate this air operation as a plausible explanation for the objects observed.”
The letter carries no date on this folio; the reply at 6040 is dated 2 December 1965 and a separate Quintanilla memorandum printed below it is dated 16 November 1965. The signature block reads "HECTOR QUINTANILLA, Jr., Major, USAF, Chief, Project Blue Book." The same letter states that publicity came from articles "similar to that from the Saturday Review of October 2, 1965" and that the material "was released by the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, a private organization which has no connection with the Government."
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